Media: A Picture is Worth 40,000 Words

This morning we got these two exclusive pictures from the Eternal Crusade team and renowned 40K artist Hardy Fowler. It may not be much, but if you play Warhammer 40,000 then you can find some awesome details. Basically the team at Behaviour is launching Phase 2 of the game and are about to make some new announcements. Here is what we can scrape together from these two pictures.

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The first shows all four factions: an Ork Nob, Chaos Marine, an Eldar Warlock, and a regular Space Marine. It looks great and basically defines what we can expect from the factions. The stand out here to me is the Eldar Warlock: very excited to see that potentially making it into the game.

The next picture however shows the four Space Marines. The first thing we did was break down the types of units that would be playable if these four suits made it into the game. So, you clearly have the Terminator, an Assault marine, an Apothecary, and a Devastator with Plasma Cannon.

The real question here is will these be the four play styles for the Imperium Faction? If so here is our theory: the Terminator would likely be the Tank style class. Heavy fire power and some super tough armor backed up by a power weapon would make them the perfect tanks on the battlefield. The Devastator clearly comes in as the long range class with various options on heavy weapons. The Apothecary would play as the “healer” even though they can fight. They are still the primary buffers for the Marine units they join. The last would be the Assault Marine with the jump pack. They would be the high speed melee specialists. The jump packs give them the counter to range and shooting attacks. If you remember the PvP in Space Marine, the Assault Marines were nasty when they landed and crushed you with their chain swords.

Overall, this is purely speculation based on the picture. However, it looks pretty clear. Let’s hope Behavior stays the course and allows players to not only use, but possibly switch between these play styles with a respec if they wanted to. I think squads made up of these types of units would be great to watch on the battlefield. Working together to fight it out, it makes us wonder what the other three factions might have? Orks would counter with Boyz, Nobz, possibly StormBoyz, and who knows... maybe Lootas or Meks? There is a lot to think about, but if this artwork rings true there are some good choices being made on Eternal Crusade's development and we can't wait to see more.

Update: The official site has new info to go with these screens, and here are your official Chapters for the Space Marines -

Battle Brothers of the Adeptus Astartes

Each army has its own form of diversity, in the form of Chapters, Legions, Clans or Craftworlds. All warriors of a faction must choose one of these organizations. The choice affects not only your appearance, but also provides a set of bonuses and abilities unique to that division.